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Glassing denial
Glassing denial refers to claims made that the Covenant Empire did not engage in mass extermination of humans during the Great War or not as extremely as is historically represented. Their main claims include that the Covenant never had any official endorsement of genocide, that the Covenant treated humanity no different than humanity treated the Covenant, that the inconsistent death count estimated by historians indicates unreliability, and that the humans who reported the genocide are liars who sought to demonize the Covenant to garner war support. Such claims are primarily made by Sangheili and Unggoy, though glassing deniers also exist among fringe human groups. Claims Glassing The principle item of belief of glassing denial is what gives it its name. It is generally understood that during the Great War, the Covenant employed plasma bombardment, typically known as "glassing", to melt the surface of human worlds and transform their crusts into glass. Glassing was used to render a planet uninhabitable, in the process killing all its current inhabitants, including noncombatants. Glassing deniers like Sangheili Ratki 'Wetum, however, claim that glassing was only used for military purposes. In his 2567 memoir Crushing Pillars Descended Upon Tepid Flowers, 'Wetum made the assertion that the claim that glassing was used to commit genocide is "a vile lie" and that "the Fleet Masters directed their warriors only to wage war. The plasma descended upon the human encampments to geld their military forces . . . and when the last of their warriors were crushed, we noble servants of the Covenant were to subjugate the heretical noncombatants and escort them to planet Trekla so that the Prophets may visit upon them the wisdom of the Gods and impregnate them with piety." No evidence has ever been gathered to suggest that such abductions ever took place or that any was intended to occur at all, and 'Wetum claims that all human civilians committed suicide before they were taken. Several other Great War historians, including Thel 'Vadam, dismiss 'Wetum's claims as nonsense. High Prophets' Decree Glassing deniers frequently cite the lack of an official decree of genocide from the High Prophets as evidence that no genocide took place. It is true that the Prophets never used the word "genocide" in their sermons. Tarane Gayane, an Unggoy minister, asserts that the Covenant only tried to convert humanity and responded aggressively when provoked. She points to phrases such as the Prophet of Truth's "none can be safe while such heresy exists, and so we must rid it from this world" as evidence that the Prophets only cared about removing heresy and wished to convert humanity. Critics of glassing denial, such as Vladimir Muelbauer, assert that the lack of explicit pronouncements of genocide do not indicate a lack of genocide. In his 2564 book A Reasonable Account, Muelbauer notes that the Covenant frequently engage in florid prose that skirts around a meaning that the listener is presumed to be able to infer based on context and other nonverbal forms of communication. He also points out a quote from the Prophet of Regret in which Regret says that "for their transgressions, the humans shall be hunted until none remain alive". This and other quotes point to the Prophets' intention that the Covenant wipe out all humanity. Draco III According to the widely accepted account of history, the Covenant gathered all the civilians of the human colony Draco III and had the Unggoy kill them all. Glassing deniers, however, frequently assert that no such massacre took place. "The human military feared the Covenant's might, but more so they feared their own people's resolve," said former Covenant Ship Master Bahtl 'Ulisow in his 2557 glassing denial broadcast. "Knowing that the human people started to question the value of a prolonged war, the Office of Naval Intelligence manufactured a legend of the 'Draco III Massacre' to let the human people believe the falsehood of the Covenant's malice and strengthen their conviction that the Covenant must be ended."